I saw some quickness around the edge with Pead. I didn't see any explosion. And I think I know explosion pretty well. Tatum Bell for example is a guy who was never a great back and had many of the same flaws in perhaps even more dramatic a fasion but he was a threat to make a big run everytime he touched the ball and he could build up speed with a real suddeness. Darren McFadden has some explosion, especially right as he touches the ball. I didn't see any of that in Pead. Except for one play, when he received the ball he had a pretty average burst and I didn't see a sudden change of speed in the open field or anything. He's a lot like Lorenzo Booker(not saying he won't be better, but similar player), a dancer with good quickness but not explosive ability or power. And mind you he didn't even look impressive as a dancing back because he slipped on at least three plays.

I saw a guy who can usually gain positive yardage(no big plays though) when he makes people miss and struggles otherwise(and that's being nice, for this game he didn't otherwise struggle he was otherwise terrible). A guy who is a very easy tackle for a defender(goes down very quickly), he will go down with arm tackles. Also many times defender would go low in relatively open areas and Pead would immediately go down. Defensive linemen and Linebackers don't often tackle explosive guys low, they can't even catch them well enough. With Pead it happened repeatedly. Not a hint of power or strength, avoids contact, lots of wasted motion, not amazing balance, not a quick decision maker, and the terrible "dancing" quality that has done in many a back. So many negative plays are caused by this sort of tendency. I didn't see any toughness either(didn't even try to recover his fumble). I wasn't impressed.

He showcased an impressive looking, but ultimately useless spin move on a return and he showed ok quickness around the edge if you want to be generous. He showed comfort running stretch plays. On one play he was fairly quick off the ball(but not quick enough to run by anyone). That's about the only positives I saw. Frankly I thought his offensive line gave him room to make plays more often than not(except for the Center getting push far backwards when he was asked to block one on one) and I don't think he capitalized. His best run was an outside play where literally a Linebacker took a very bad angle and basically gave Pead a wide open lane to run through outside. He almost never made defenders missed, never made them miss for positive yardage, and never even came close to showing the ability to run in congested areas.

I really think how easy the guy goes down bothers me the most. I wouldn't be surprised if his receiving skills are good but as a back he sure looked a St. Louis Rams draft pick to me._________________Stop slobbering over Brian Dawkins

Watching the Raiders game now, and boy has their Offense been bad. Their ZBS looks very rusty and I still don't think highly of Carson Palmer in that Offense. Darren McFadden's only good run so far (13 mins left in the 2nd) has come off a power run. That said, he is so electric in space in the passing game. They had 3 plays from the 1 yard line to get in and got denied on all 3.

Their Defense on the other hand looks very impressive. Looks like stunts are going to be a big part of the Defensive front 4 of the Raiders. Shaughnessy is very good and exploding through the Guard/Tackle gap whilst stunting, and Tommy Kelly (for now) appears to have a rocket lit up his backside._________________

As far as the Luck/Rodgers debate, both have to be respected and both are excellent athletes at the position. I don't doubt that athletically Luck could do many of the same things Rodgers does, but I doubt you'll ever really get to see it. Their styles of play are much different. Luck brings more of a Manning approach to the game. More methodical and on time. Rodgers is Favre 2.0 and uses his athleticism/arm strength to improvise more often.

Noooooo no no no no. rodgers is definitely not favre 2.0. Sorry but just because they wore the same jersey does not make them the same. Same for luck and manning. I'd say cutler or romo are much closer to favre. I don't want to ever see that last sentence again. Rodgers uses his brain and accuracy to improvise more so then his arm strength. He throws to the open receiver or takes off when scrambling. Favre threw to whoever he saw in the same jersey regardless of their coverage status and when he didn't see anyone he took off.

Watching the Raiders game now, and boy has their Offense been bad. Their ZBS looks very rusty and I still don't think highly of Carson Palmer in that Offense. Darren McFadden's only good run so far (13 mins left in the 2nd) has come off a power run. That said, he is so electric in space in the passing game. They had 3 plays from the 1 yard line to get in and got denied on all 3.

Their Defense on the other hand looks very impressive. Looks like stunts are going to be a big part of the Defensive front 4 of the Raiders. Shaughnessy is very good and exploding through the Guard/Tackle gap whilst stunting, and Tommy Kelly (for now) appears to have a rocket lit up his backside.

Seems Allen has made his mark on the team? Did we use a lot of stunts last year on the d - line?

As far as the Luck/Rodgers debate, both have to be respected and both are excellent athletes at the position. I don't doubt that athletically Luck could do many of the same things Rodgers does, but I doubt you'll ever really get to see it. Their styles of play are much different. Luck brings more of a Manning approach to the game. More methodical and on time. Rodgers is Favre 2.0 and uses his athleticism/arm strength to improvise more often.

Noooooo no no no no. rodgers is definitely not favre 2.0. Sorry but just because they wore the same jersey does not make them the same. Same for luck and manning. I'd say cutler or romo are much closer to favre. I don't want to ever see that last sentence again. Rodgers uses his brain and accuracy to improvise more so then his arm strength. He throws to the open receiver or takes off when scrambling. Favre threw to whoever he saw in the same jersey regardless of their coverage status and when he didn't see anyone he took off.

As for luck manning those two players are just so different they really aren't comparable.

Seems Allen has made his mark on the team? Did we use a lot of stunts last year on the d - line?

A fair bit. Not always to our advantage(see Patriots games).

Defenses that rely on stunts from the front four are inherently flawed by the way, in that they have practically no answer for a quick passing offense._________________Stop slobbering over Brian Dawkins